A Perfect Saturday

Last weekend my sister and her new fiancé were home for the weekend. In case you missed my post last week, they just got engaged, and that meant some major celebrations were in order.

We are a complete foodie family, so where better to celebrate than the crème de la crème of restaurants in Dublin, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud. For those of you not familiar with Guilbaud’s, it is one of Dublin’s top restaurants located beside the Merrion Hotel, and currently holds two Michelin stars. So we’re talking fancy, shmancy people!

Lunch was booked for 13.45pm and we had organised to have the private room for our celebrations. There were six of us in total, and the day was incredible. C’était incroyable!

When you arrive, you are led into a lavish sitting room area where you can enjoy a pre-lunch drink. This room has all the characteristics you expect from a Georgian townhouse, high ceilings with intricate cornicing, walls that host paintings from some of Ireland’s most famous artists, and luxurious, cosy furniture. All of which make this room a sanctuary of relaxation. You could so easily while away the hours in this room, conversing as you sip your champagne.

When it comes to the food, you have the option of ordering either from the Lunch or A La Carte menus, but for this visit we opted for the set lunch menu. At €55 for 3 courses, this is an absolute steel, particularly for a restaurant of such high standard.

Once we ordered and made our way to our table, we were given a selection of homemade breads to choose from – Tomato and Fennel, Walnut, Brown Soda, Baguette, there were so many options I can’t remember them all! I opted for the baguette and then our Amuse Bouche arrived. It was Eel with an apple jelly. At first I was a bit apprehensive of the eel, but actually it was delicious, and the perfect taster ahead of our meal.

Let’s face it, in a restaurant like this it’s really just all about the food, so here’s a look at what I ordered:

Starter: Onion Soup, with a Hint of Langoustine

Don’t let the title of onion soup fool you here. This was onion soup on an entirely different level. It was rich and creamy, and the more you ate, the more flavour that came through. In one mouthful you taste chive, in another taste cream, in another you get Langoustine. Each mouthful a wondrous journey of discovery! This was simply heaven in a bowl.

Main: Monkfish with a Tomato Curry Jus, Potato Gnocchi and Courgette

I’m not usually a big curry fan but I love Monkfish and decided to give this a try. As with all things in this restaurant, nothing is ever as it seems and the curry flavour was oh so subtle. Just enough to give the fish a kick while remaining gentle and respectful of the delicate Monkfish flavour. Delicious on so many levels. Our mains were accompanied by creamy mashed potato and green beans, all so wonderfully French.

Dessert: Cheese Plate

I know many of you might be thinking cheese, seriously?! I know, I’m weird like that. I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth and I love cheese so this was a no-brainer for me. I had a mixture of both Irish and French cheeses, opting for the milder choices as I’m not really one for blue cheese.

Just because it looked so pretty, I also had to get a picture of the desert that everyone else opted for which was a Raspberry Parfait with Aerated Rice Pudding. Apart from looking amazing, I was told that it tasted amazing too, so happy campers all round.

Petit Fours

The Petit Fours you get here are unlike no others I’ve seen. You’ll have to excuse the missing item in the picture which was a sweet sponge, my Dad had it eaten before I got my photo!

My sister and I cut each of the rest in half and shared them between us: Quince Jelly, a mini Lemon Meringue Tart, a Pistachio Cake with Pistachio Crum, a Raspberry Macaroon, and the best of them all, a White Chocolate, Piña Colada and Pineapple Cake Pop. Oh. Dear. Lord. This was a little explosion of happiness in your mouth. Utter indulgence. Delicious doesn’t even cover how tasty this was.

All washed down with some Champagne and beautiful wine.

Once lunch had finished, we made our way into the bar of the Merrion Hotel, grabbed a seat by the fire and ended the day by drinking some more red wine and talking all things weddings and politics (given the day that was in it).

I am by no means a food expert, but the day was so enjoyable that I wanted to share it with you. How all Saturday’s should be spent I think…

Oh and for all my fashion loving followers, here’s a look at what I wore for our day out!

4 thoughts on “A Perfect Saturday”

Sounds like a fabulous day and boy does that food look delicious! We live to eat in my house so whole we lack in professional training we make up for it in good appetite and taste 😉 This looks like a must visit whenever we make our way to Ireland 🙂

Oh it has been on my bucket list! I’m captivated by the photos. My uncle that was married into the family was from Ireland so I’ve heard many great things about it from personal experience. I’m so happy you had such a great weekend in wonderful company 🙂